Bradie Tennell Set to Defend Her Title in Detroit

by Liz Leamy

(18 January 2019) Bradie Tennell, the 2018
U.S. Champion, Mariah Bell, the 2017 U.S. Bronze Medalist, Starr
Andrews, the 2017 U.S. Junior Silver Medalist, Alysa Liu, the
2018 U.S. Junior Champion, Courtney Hicks, a two-time ISU
Championship Grand Prix medalist and America’s other top-seeded
ladies ought to stage a memorable competition at the 2019 Geico U.S.
Figure Skating Championships, which will kick off on Thursday, January 18th
and run through Sunday, January 27th in Detroit, Michigan.
The Ladies event will begin Friday, the 25th.

This competition, which will be held at the
Little Caesars Arena in Downtown Detroit on Thursday and Friday, the
24th and 25th,
will see Tennell attempting defending her title for the first time,
against strong competition from Bell, Andrews and Liu.
This being the first Nationals to usher in
the four-year 2022 Olympic cycle, this ladies competition, which
will feature a roster of fresh faces as well as a host of rock-solid
longtime senior contenders, should be one for the books, for various
reasons.

Leading this brigade is Bradie Tennell, the
powerful 20 year-old from Winfield, Illinois who made major inroads
on the national and international skating scene last season when she
pulled off a bronze-medal finish at 2017 Skate America, scored the
2018 U.S. title, after having finished ninth in the same event the
year prior, and made the 2018 Olympics, where she placed ninth.

According to Tennell, her training has been
going well leading up to this event.

“I’ve been going through the daily grind,” said
Tennell. “Every time I go out on the ice I want to do the best for
myself and as long as I do that, I’ll be happy.”This past year,
Tennell has been focusing particularly on technical elements and has
worked on making all of her jumps higher, among other things, which
she seems to feel very good about.

In regard to her skating, Tennell said she has
gotten a great deal of support from her friends, family and the
people in her community.

“[Everyone in the] community has been really
supportive. It’s been great,” said Tennell, who coaches all levels
of skaters. “I love bringing attention to the sport itself and it
always makes my day to see a kid on the ice for the first or second
time.”

Then there is Mariah Bell, 22, who finished 12th in 2017
and 2018, who trains with Rafael Arutyunyan in Artesia, California.
Known for her high triples and artful spins,
Bell seems as determined as ever to put out two solid performances,
with her sights set on both making the World Team and building
toward the 2022 Olympics.

“It’s been a pretty steady climb which has been
really exciting,” said Bell. “I want to be [a top player especially]
going into these next Olympics and that’s very exciting.”

This season, Bell is skating to ‘To Love You
More,’ sung by Celine Dion and choreographed by Adam Rippon and
‘Divenire’ and ‘Experience’ by Ludovico Einaudi for the free skate.

For Bell, it’s all about building from the
momentum she’s been able to so far establish.

“You start gaining momentum and building
confidence throughout the season,” said Bell. “I’m looking forward
to continuing that the next few weeks.”

Another strong contender is Andrews, who is known for her outstanding
spin and jump technique and whose arresting short program to ‘Porgy
and Bess’ this season has been a real showstopper so far.

Then there is Alysa Liu, the electric 13
year-old jumping jack from California who clinched the U.S. Junior
title last season with a full arsenal of excellent quick-turning
triples.

At this event, Liu is planning to execute a
total of three triple Axels in her short and long programs, which
will definitely make this one heck of a good competition.

Meanwhile, Courtney Hicks, who is known to be
one of the sport’s big jumping powerhouses, along with the others on
the ladies roster also have their sights set on making the U.S.
Championship podium.

As always, time will reveal how the leaderboard
will look, at least for this season moving forward to 2022.